Jennifer Lopez has got it all wrong, but then again if you listen to the thrice married diva for love advice you must be a fool.

The way I see it, love is an investment and, yes, that means putting money (in the form of gifts) into the relationship, if you want a successful one. For those of you who have been in a coma your entire life, Valentine's Day is fast approaching and is a lovely holiday celebrating a priest that died in the name of love. It is also a day that leaves men thoroughly confused in the week leading up! For all the men out there who think they have got it bad on Valentine's Day, just look at it from a woman's point of view.

Many women hate it just as much as the guys. Can you blame us? We are anxiety-ridden the whole week before and usually depressed the whole week after! What our significant other gets us usually reveals his feelings. If we get a bouquet of roses we know this fellow has absolutely no originality and spent ZERO time thinking about what he was going to get. So, the relationship is going nowhere fast. But, if the gift is a diamond necklace you know it's going somewhere!

Now just wait a second guys, I am not saying you need to spend your entire paycheck; just show how much you care by getting your special someone something original, and she will realize right away that she means more to you than your last girlfriend! A word of advice: Nothing says love like a handwritten letter on beautiful stationery. How cheap is that? There is no reason to live in confusion and stress for an entire week when you can just express yourself on a piece of paper.

This solves another problem that we women have, and that is having the best boyfriend/husband! Hopefully men have realized by now that women are just as competitive as men and that we also compete in the dumbest topics. Just like we want the best hair out of the group, we also want the best significant other. Yeah, we gripe about how our dearies never fail to leave a restaurant without mustard on their shirt and how they don't appreciate how much work we do around the house, but we also talk about all your pluses. Don't be so surprised!

We do this terrible thing of secretly comparing and trying to outdo each other. We even do it with the guys in our life. So, it is essential that you give us a gift we can brag about to our friends. That way we don't have to exaggerate! Sure it might cost you a little extra time or money, but believe me it's worth it.

Even teenagers know the cost of a relationship now. While watching the Katie Couric special on teens and sex, a guy who could not have been more than sixteen, said that relationships were too expensive and that is why he doesn't want one. Talk about being wise beyond your years.

As we get older, the longing for a partner becomes stronger, and we want someone to share our experiences. Just look at the ridiculous amount of online dating sites out there. But even Maslow's Hierarchy shows that love is a basic need. So maybe it's not so ridiculous, especially when you consider America is one of the hardest working nations where people barely have time for themselves, let alone enough time to invest looking for a relationship.

I read a poll the other day and people were asked something like whether they would rather have love or money. The answer was overwhelmingly for love. So my question is this: Is it really so costly and stressful to spend time and money on the infamous February 14th, considering everything you receive from that relationship throughout the year? Sure, spending money to show our appreciation for one another could be considered deeply flawed but, hey, at least it's in the name of love!

Next time you feel the need to complain aboutValentine's Day issues - man or woman - just be glad you have a special someone, and you don't need to sign up for online dating. And if you are an online dater,well, just be glad you live in America and have a computer so you can subscribe.

It could be worse, like living in the middle of Africa and being the only single person because you have a bad case of halitosis!

Bottom line: If Valentine's Day is the reason for the end of your relationship, then it wasn't strong to begin with.